“Resourcing challenges” are damaging Natural England’s ability to give developers and councils pre-planning advice on time, its latest report shows.

Natural England’s report on annual response times to planning and pre-application enquiries for the 2018/19 financial year was published yesterday.

It states that “resourcing challenges and an increase in the number of planning application consultations” had impacted Natural England’s ability to deliver. Since 2010, Natural England has experienced a 47% cut to its budget, which critics argue has affected its ability to carry out its wider duties as England’s wildlife regulator.